


All Secrets Away

by Naomida



Series: Howl at the Moon [15]
Category: Fantastic Four, Marvel, Thor (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Discovering the truth, Gen, Werewolf Mates, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 17:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9777248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naomida/pseuds/Naomida
Summary: “Are you okay?” asked Sue, frowning.Loki wondered for a second how they could all know that something was wrong, but then he realized that he was reeking of nerves and trepidation, and for a second, he thought about telling them.“Yes, I’m fine,” he said when he remembered what could happen to people who went up against the Marrok.He liked that pack a little too much to do that to them.





	

Despite all odds, It was Loki who reached out to Reed first.

He found him on a cold afternoon, by himself in his own bedroom, sitting on his bed and looking out the window.

Loki wasn’t stupid. He had seen Victor get out into the woods with Peter only twenty minutes before, and he could only _imagine_ what it must be like, to be Reed in that moment. Loki had his own issues and problems, but he was thankful that no matter how bad things were for him, they weren’t as bad as _that_.

Reed only spared him a quick look and a raised eyebrow when he sat down next to him before turning back to the window, and for awhile, Loki struggled with what to tell him.

He settled on the truth.

“I’m here because I’m running away from the Marrok.”

“I know,” replied Reed, turning to face him. “Everybody in the pack does.”

Loki nodded, just once. Of course everybody knew, he wasn’t naive enough to think that his actions were anything other than transparent in regards to the Marrok and his former pack.

“I’m running because I have my own mate related issues.” he added, pursing his lips and feeling oddly satisfied when Reed’s eyes turned wide. “Now, of course, I expect you to keep it to yourself.”

“Yes, of course,” replied the other man, nodding slightly and still looking flabbergasted. “I just… can I ask what kind of problems?”

“The same as you. I was purposefully kept in the dark about my mate’s identity.”

At that, Reed frowned, looking affronted – which kind of made Loki feel warm, somewhere deeply buried inside of him. It was good to have a real pack, who got affronted on your behalf.

“You don’t feel mated,” he said.

“It’s because I’m not. And I still don’t know who my mate is. I just know that I already met them, and who’s pack they belong to.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. Sure, Loki had studied the question at length, first before leaving the Marrok’s pack, then ever since he had arrived here, and there weren’t a lot of people who could be the one – in fact, there was only one single wolf who checked all criteria but that just… no, it wasn’t possible. No one would do that to their mate.

Or, as Victor was proving times and times again, maybe some people could.

The only thing that didn’t explain it, was that Victor was on the brink of insanity, whereas Loki’s potential mate was as far from it as possible.

Still. Technically, Loki didn’t know who it was.

Reed brought him out of his thoughts and back in the moment when he gently put his hand on top of his, and offered him a kind smile.

“If it makes you feel better, being mated doesn’t exactly make it better.”

Loki couldn’t help a smile at that.

 

 

***

 

 

Loki’s heart skipped a beat when he read the text he had just received.

_I think I finally found the solution._

Namor sent him a surprised look, but didn’t push when Loki only scowled and looked back down at his burner phone, and the entire pack pretended to still be absorbed by what was happening on the TV, but he wasn’t dupe.

He knew they were all focusing on him, but it was too important and he was pretty sure his legs couldn’t carry him to another room so he typed his answer without waiting.

_Do it._

For a long, agonizing minute, nothing else happened. Namor was staring at his profile and pressed against his left side while Reed, on his right, pretended to not be side eyeing Victor’s wolf who was on the other side of the room spread on Sue and Peter’s laps.

His heart skipped another beat and he almost jumped in surprise when his phone vibrated again and he read Amora’s reply.

_I need to do this face to face._

He didn’t have to think before he was typing, barely registering that Namor’s hand had reached down and gripped his leg just above the knee.

_I’ll be expecting you in four days. Plane ticket’s on me._

When he looked up from the phone, heart in his throat but feeling lighter than he had felt in a long time, he was surprised to find everyone staring at him.

“Are you okay?” asked Sue, frowning.

Loki wondered for a second how they could all know that something was wrong, but then he realized that he was reeking of nerves and trepidation, and for a second, he thought about telling them.

“Yes, I’m fine,” he said when he remembered what could happen to people who went up against the Marrok.

He liked that pack a little too much to do that to them.

He grabbed Namor’s hand and brought it higher on his thigh, however, pleased with how warm his fingers felt even through his pants.

 

 

***

 

 

Reed worked at the local high school as a science teacher, and had asked Loki to meet him after work on the parking lot.

Reed was already there when he arrived, wrapped in a ridiculously gigantic scarf, holding a beat up briefcase in one hand and waving at him with the other – which had Loki roll his eyes but bite down on a smile.

“You’re right on time,” beamed Reed once Loki was close enough.

“Why did you want us to meet?” asked the Alpha, not in the mood to beat around the bush.

“I thought we could go to the movies. You pick what we’re watching, obviously,” he added when Loki opened his mouth.

Loki scowled, although it was more by reflex than because he was annoyed at Reed.

Really, how could he be annoyed at him when the man was beaming and looking the most alive he had looked since what had happened with Victor in the car? He also appreciated what he was doing by inviting him to the cinema. He really did.

“Fine,” he sighed, rolling his eyes to keep the charade up, before following Reed to his car, “but you better be a good driver. And you’re paying.”

Reed laughed and happily nodded.

 

 

***

 

 

After the movie – Loki had settled on a French comedy that was cliché as hell but took place in Paris so at least it looked pretty – they decided to go have coffee, the Alpha making sure that he was the one paying this time.

Reed still looked happy, and Loki felt oddly comfortable in his company, which prompted him to answer when Reed asked him how long he had known about his mate.

“I discovered it about a month before I arrived here.”

Reed nodded, losing his smile as Loki looked down at his cup of coffee.

“I… I hesitated about leaving, and my original plan was to only spend a few weeks here, but...” he shrugged pathetically and gave a depreciating smile at the table. “I surprisingly like it here, and after seeing Victor and you, I thought a lot about what I wanted out of a relationship with my mate.”

“And?” asked Reed when he said nothing else.

“I can’t face them knowing that they did this to me.”

“Are you even sure that _they_ did this?”

“They have to have known.”

Reed looked sad at that.

 

 

***

 

 

Sue cornered him two days later, and if he had to be honest, Loki had seen it coming.

He also didn’t care one bit when she looked hurt after he refused to tell her anything about Reed’s mental wellbeing. He knew that she had known about Victor, he couldn’t have hidden it from his own alpha, and she had decided herself to not tell Reed when it was his right to be kept in the loop.

“Loki,” she pleaded.

“No,” he replied, uncompromising. “You should have told Reed, that’s your _job_ as his Alpha, and I seriously don’t know how you can still look at yourself in a mirror knowing all that you have done to him. All he wants is to have a normal life with his mate, and it must already be hard enough for him to know that said mate doesn’t seem to want to do anything to make things easier. And not only that, his alpha also doesn’t care enough to protect him from that. How the hell is he supposed to feel now?”

She frowned and grimaced.

“I want to protect him, that’s why I didn’t say anything. I know Victor won’t want to come back, not yet and–”

“Who cares what the fool wants?!” he cut her, yelling without really meaning to.

Sue took a brusque step back, averting her eyes and hunching her shoulders, suddenly looking a lot smaller.

 _She was submitting_ , he realized with surprise, before realizing that he had let the wolf reach the surface for an instant.

He wished he cared more about not scaring her, but knowing that what was happening to Reed was partly her fault, he couldn’t really pay much attention to that.

He let his eyes glow red.

“You could change the situation, and you know it damn well. You just don’t care enough. For some reason, you prefer to see them being destroyed by it. It’s almost like...” he trailed off, realization hitting him like a baseball bat at the base of the skull, and he let his eyes go back to being green as Sue glanced up to meet them. “Sue, are you still in love with Victor?”

“No.”

She sounded firm, but her sudden paleness and the tension in her shoulders were telling a different story.

“Sue, I can’t let you lead this pack if you can’t keep a clear head and let your feeling pass before the wellbeing of your wolves. I _have_ to inform the Marrok.”

“I’m _not_ in love with Victor!” she insisted, frowning deeply and stepping closer to him. “Not anymore, and I’m very well aware that even if I still was, there is nothing to do about it, because he is mated to Reed, and he’s _in love with him_.”

“Then what the hell’s the problem?” he asked, voice raising again and gesturing wildly with his arms.

He was starting to grow frustrated – something he hadn’t truly felt in some times now, and which could have terrible consequences.

“I don’t know, Victor refuses to talk to me.”

“Then forces him to do so.”

“I can’t. I think he’s scared, of his feeling and of not being able to trust Reed, and if I do that he will know for sure that he can’t trust _me_.”

“I don’t care and it doesn’t matter anymore at this point. You talk to him, or _I will_ ,” he said before turning on his heels and leaving her standing alone in the room.

 

 

***

 

 

Amora hugged him as tightly as a non-werewolf could, and for a second Loki let himself close his eyes and breathe in her familiar scent, feeling like he was home – whatever that meant in his case.

She cupped his face between her perpetually warm palms once she had finished hugging him and looked closely into his eyes, as if looking for traces of what had happened to him during his stay here.

“They’re treating you well,” she said.

It was not a question, but Loki still nodded and watched as she let go of his face and went to sit on her hotel room’s bed.

“We can start right now,” she said, crossing her legs and pursing her lips, “but I have to warn you, it’ll be long and probably hurt.”

“You know I don’t care,” he said, not moving.

She frowned slightly.

“Once it’s done, you’ll know the entire truth. Do you think you’re ready?”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m ready or not, I already know part of it and I can’t let them keep the truth from me any longer.”

“Alright then,” she said, getting up swiftly and walking to the adjacent bathroom, “help me with the candles, it’s gonna be a long night.”

 

 

***

 

 

She hadn’t lied when she had said that it was going to be long, but Loki still hadn’t expected the ritual to take _twelve hours_.

By the end of it, once Amora had finally sat down in front of him, out of breath and looking like she was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion, Loki really didn’t know what to expect, but it sure wasn’t for _nothing at all_.

“Are you sure?” frowned Amora after he had handed her a bottle of water.

“I don’t feel anything,” he replied, not even trying to hide his disappointment.

“That’s not possible,” she replied, putting the bottle down and getting up on her knees, “I found the binding spell and completely destroyed it. _You_ felt it too!”

“I did but...”

Loki trailed off, frowning and reaching up to touch his forehead, feeling dizzy for a second.

“Loki, what’s going on?” he heard through the buzzing in his ears, but he couldn’t see Amora anymore, nor the hotel room, and when he looked up, all he was met with were the Marrok’s satisfied eyes.

“We got you now boy,” he said with satisfaction as he bent down and, without any effort at all, grabbed Loki under the armpits and held him up against one of his hips.

Loki struggled and tried to get away, but the Marrok was too powerful, and Loki’s claws were too bloody and broken to do any damage when he got them out and tried to claw at him.

The Marrok snorted and started walking purposefully in the direction of the setting sun, and Loki was left with no other solution but to be taken as he watched his village being burned down by the Marrok’s wolves and the few survivors being brought to the center of it, where they would without a doubt be executed.

Amora slapped him in the face hard enough that it hurt, and Loki was suddenly back in the present moment.

She was looking at him with concern when he met her eyes.

“What the hell just happened?” she asked, sounding nervous. “I felt a shift.”

“I just remembered my first meeting with the Marrok,” breathed Loki, lips numbs, “my _real_ first meeting with him.”

“So we have the confirmation that he’s not your father then.”

“Amora you don’t understand...” he whispered, reaching up to grab her by the shoulder, desperately needing something to help him stay afloat now that everything was rushing back to him in rapid flashes, “he killed _all_ of my people, my real family included, just to get his hands on me.”

He realized that he was crying when Amora reached up to wipe at his tears before taking him in her arms, gently caressing up and down his back.

Loki closed his eyes as hard as he could, wishing that the truth hadn’t been as horrible as he had been expecting.

 

 

***

 

 

When he got back to the pack’s house two days later – and he refused to think of it as home yet – Namor was waiting for him on a chair in the living room.

Loki sat down on the other chair that had been placed right in front of him, and for a while they said absolutely nothing and just stared into each other’s eyes.

“What happened?” finally asked Namor.

“Something bad.”

Namor snorted and raised an eyebrow.

“I felt it,” he said, “we all did.”

Loki scowled.

“It’s none of the pack’s business.”

“You’re pack, so it is.”

Loki’s heart lurched a little in his chest at that, and judging by his little smirk, Namor had heard it.

“Sue made me wait up for you because she wasn’t sure you’d want to stay with the pack when you came back.”

“I don’t care, I just want to sleep,” he replied, sighing.

Namor nodded, got up, gently grabbed his hand and pulled him off the chair in the direction of the stairs.

They stopped in Loki’s bedroom and he let Namor slowly take all of his clothes off before letting him get in pajamas, and when they joined Sue’s bedroom and all of the pack, everyone was very badly pretending to be asleep – even Ben, whom Loki hadn’t seen since the last Full Moon.

It warmed his heart a little, to think that they all cared about him enough to lose sleep on his behalf, and he gladly let Namor push him down on the bed next to Reed and lay down next to him to wrap his arms tightly around him.

Maybe it was cuddling, and maybe Reed was digging his nose into the back of his shoulder and sighed happily once he had settled, but Loki needed a pack right now, and he was glad to have such a good and loving one.

**Author's Note:**

> This oneshot didn't turn out exactly like I wanted it to, but we're finally getting to the very exciting part of the story so yay for plot and get ready for a wild ride!


End file.
